photograph © Åke Eson Lindman

At the side of the motorway between Rostock and Berlin stands a brown sign with the stylised drawing of the “Müritzeum”. A sign that says there is something worth seeing!

The remarkable thing is not the building but the large national park and the seven large lakes. Lake Müritz is the largest in Germany (Bodensee is shared with Switzerland and Austria), it is relatively shallow but all navigable. This is where the cranes stop before continuing their migration to lake Hornborga.


photograph © Åke Eson Lindman

The town of Waren is in the northern part of Müritz. It is a medieval town just over an hour’s drive from Berlin or Hamburg (the motorway speeds are still unlimited). Waren is a major tourist attraction for bicycle tours in the national park, trips on the lake system or simple walks between different gasthof. Waren is in the former East Germany and was considered something of a treasure.

“Müritzeum” lies on a small peninsular between the old town, previously surrounded by water, and the newer part with civic buildings, administration and ”plattenbau” (East German, prefabricated apartment blocks). This is where you leave your car or get off the bus. 3 years ago an architectural competition was held, a hundred expressed an interest and twelve were selected to participate.


photograph © Åke Eson Lindman

In Germany, besides the Embassy, we have participated in 4, won two and shared a 4th place. All the competitions have been well organised and with very well worked through decisions. The Embassy gave us great interest in the precision that the German building trade can offer and the confidence that an architect enjoys. Germany has also moved much deeper into sustainable development. A special ecology consultant is a natural part of a consultancy group.

“Universeum” was the merit that qualified us for the invitation. Experiences, not least from following up, characterise “Müritzeum” which in many ways has a similar program of aquaria, exhibitions and experimental stations. Both buildings use a lot of wood, both as load bearing components and as cladding. ”Müritzeum” is two cones of load bearing solid wood elements (exhibition areas) set on a cast concrete base (aquariums). The exterior exposed wood at “Universeum” is blackening and going grey in an unattractive manner, so for ”Müritzeum” we looked at a more hardwearing expression.


photograph © Åke Eson Lindman

On Särö in the stabling there is a small barn with a charcoal side. The fire happened in 1927 but the charring looks fresh. Finally a maintenance free treatment for an exterior exposed wood design!

There was also an attraction in the thought of a wall composed of just solid wood elements in sufficient thickness for full u-value, load bearing and burned in situ with a gasol flame to the appropriate charcoal level.

The actual cost of solid wood (the thinner the more valuable) and a genuine German dislike of burning the building (it could all catch fire) led to a multi layer construction where the exterior’s panel boards were charred before installation.


photograph © Åke Eson Lindman

The result of the slightly downward curving cones is an exterior that absorbs light like a black hole in space, at the same time as the panels at close range trap the sunrays in the whiteness of the ash.

The floor solution is the most faithful reflection of the program (like at “Universeum”).
A high, central room is surrounded by a series of exhibition themes, ice age, fauna, flora, mankind etc. but also by a slit giving direct access to the surrounding park with an older exhibition building and a natural walk around the small Lake Herrensee and a final roof climb to the viewing platform towards Lake Müritz.


photograph © Åke Eson Lindman

Up in the central room, Germany’s largest freshwater aquarium protrudes with a large shoal, advertising the aquarium section one floor below. With the experience of the daylight lit “Universeum”, here we have a completely daylight free exhibition where only one window per floor creates contact with the outside. On the entry level a glassed in bay window juts out, with lots of binoculars in an eagle’s head, while the lower floor has the exhibition’s piece de resistance, a seamlessly inserted window.
In Herrensee’s water and its population of carp. In reality it is a cleaned pond, separated from the murky lake waters.

Finally, the beginning. The bay window, glass in the water and the park bar are all, like the entryway, parallel slits cut through the cones. The roof protrudes powerfully out over the south facing, double height glass facade.
All the surfaces here are honey yellow, varnished, grain rich larch reminding one of the care that a much-loved wooden boat receives. The slit faces the tourist marina and the flows of people. The cafe’s parasols, chairs and tables swarm over the cobbled entry square (form of NOD) and lighten it.


photograph © Åke Eson Lindman

This is the entry facade that the brown and white motorway sign caricatures.

Gert Wingårdh

Muritzeum info from Wingårdh Arkitektkontor AB 050508



Müritzeum

Visitor centre for the region “Mecklenburgische Seenplatte”. A unique central point in Waren in between Müritz, the older town centre and the surrounding countryside.
Müritzeum includes a freshwater aquarium, multimedia exhibits, restaurant and a shop.


photograph © Gert Wingårdh

The building extends out like a peninsular in Herrensee and personifies elements essentially different from one another as solid ground and water.

The round design means the building has no problems blending in among the less conspicuous surroundings despite its large scale. The walls seem to keep a low profile and the building is perceived as being smaller than it actually is.


drawing from Wingårdh Arkitektkontor

The sense of undefined direction is articulated through a series of straight sections that reduce the area of the circle.
One section runs parallel with Kietzstraße and offers a large, distinct entrance facade – which is not too imposing, but rather adapted to suit Waren's scale.

Another section breaks the midpoint of the circle, focuses light on certain working spaces, provides a direct park connection to the centre of the building and perhaps most importantly of all, a flat staircase to the roof of the building. A corresponding external staircase on the west side of the building gives the circle a direction and shows where the front of the building is.


drawing from Wingårdh Arkitektkontor

The exterior, highly visible staircases clearly demonstrate how the structure is accessible and that it represents a part of the walk around the Herrensee lake.

From the north, the building is seen in a remote perspective, where the circle with its inclined sides, a little like a ship's hull, rides on Herrensee's reflection in the water.

The building is designed as two coned segments at two different heights and with two different radii. The cone segments together create a circle.
The circle is broken, as mentioned, by a pair of sharp sections. The building consists primarily of two floors and a semi-basement.

The cone segments and floor structure that are not in contact with the ground are made of wood.


drawing from Wingårdh Arkitektkontor

The supporting walls are 120 mm Leno walls. The external surfaces are of 30 mm carbonized timber with a blackish brown finish that hardly needs any maintenance. This surface treatment gives the building an aura of being an historic landmark while at the same time being environmentally friendly.
In contrast, the wood on the inside of the foyer and pent-roof is a glazed honey colour. These two different expressions in the same material are joined together by a clear glass facade.